Well hey there and welcome back to Heimler's History. Now in this video we're continuing to look at unit 5 of the AP U.S. History curriculum and that means we've got to talk about the Mexican American War. So crack them brain folds open, get your brain cow situated for milking, and let's get to it.
So basically in this video we're just trying to answer the following question. What were the causes and effects of the Mexican American War? So let's look at each one in turn. First, the causes.
What caused the Mexican American War? Well, remember from the last video that Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836 and fought several battles to that end. But Mexico was none too happy about this situation and were not yet ready to concede total defeat. Nonetheless, tensions between Texans and the Mexican government did cool down a little in the aftermath of the conflict, and it didn't seem like anything would happen as long as Texas remained independent. But here's where I tell you that Texans didn't want to remain independent.
They wanted to be annexed by the United States. And that, to the Mexican government, was a reason to get into a fight. And that's why Presidents Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, and Tyler all decided again to go against annexation. But as I mentioned in the last video, all that changed in the election of James K. Polk.
Now he took office in 1845 and one of his main campaign promises was the annexation of Texas. And so Polk, making good on his promise, saddled up his mechanical bull, put on his 10 gallon cowboy hat, and got Texas into the Union. Now I should revise that previous statement, it's not altogether true.
It was actually Polk's predecessor, John Tyler, who led the process to annex Texas. But Tyler only did it once. did it when he was on the way out of office, it can see that because of Polk's election that the American people favored this move. So seeing the annexation of Texas as a fine notch for his presidential legacy belt, he went ahead and did it.
Even so, I'm going to put that point in Polk's category, because apart from his election, it's unlikely that Tyler would have done that. Nevertheless, when Polk assumed the office of president, it's not too much to say that he had a Texas-sized problem. Mexico, as I mentioned before, was none too happy about the annexation, and so Polk sent a diplomat named John Slidell to Mexico City with a couple of tasks.
First, Slidell asked the American government to sell even more land to the United States, namely New Mexico and California territories. The Mexican authorities said no, which when being translated from the Spanish roughly means no. The second part of Slidell's task was to settle the location of the southern border of Mexico.
Now, the Mexican government said that the border ran along the Nueces River. The American government, on the other hand, said that the border ran along the Rio Grande, and in case you're keeping score, that's a big difference. And again, on this count, the Mexicans were unwilling to budge in negotiations with Slidell. So President Polk went ahead and brought this conflict to a head in 1846. I mean, since all of this land here belonged to America, it shouldn't be any problem at all to advance American troops onto it and station them at the Rio Grande. And so Polk sent General Zachary Taylor with his troops to do just that.
that, and Mexican troops met them at the Rio Grande, and at the end of the conflict 11 Americans were dead. Now Polk was outraged at this. Are we really going to stand for this? Mexicans killing Americans on American soil? Never mind that this was disputed territory.
Polk wanted a war with Mexico, and on May 13, 1846, Congress granted him one. And baby, that's how you get the Mexican-American War. So that's a brief survey of the causes of the war, and you don't really need to know the.
battles and strategies and the various conflicts, it'll be enough for you to know that a relatively small amount of American military gained enough ground in order to claim California and the New Mexico Territory. Furthermore, under the leadership of General Winfield Scott, the American troops conquered and occupied Mexico City, a victory which forced the Mexican government to the negotiation table. So America won this war, and that means we need to talk about the effects of the war. First effect. buttloads of land for the United States, and that came in the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. This treaty made the following provisions.
Number one, it established the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas. Second, it outlined a deal for what's called the Mexican Cession in which Mexico ceded California and New Mexico to the United States for $15 million. Now, add all of this land gained from the Mexican Cession to the Gadsden Purchase in 1853 right here, and all told Mexico lost more than half of its territory to the United States.
Now, said buttload of land was a contentious gain for the US even before the war was over. Like, it wasn't a stretch for Congress to discern that the US would actually win this war and with it add a lot of territory to the Union. So in 1846, with that very real possibility on the horizon, a congressman named David Wilmot added a little amendment to an appropriations bill working its way through Congress.
This amendment was known as the Wilmot Proviso, and it proposed that any lands gained from victory victory in the Mexican-American War be off limits for the expansion of slavery. Now ultimately this was voted down, but it's important because it highlights the growing tension over the slavery question. Now it's important to realize that the politicians who voted it down weren't necessarily abolitionists, but they certainly believed in the ideal of free soil, which is to say they wanted to acquire additional land for homesteaders to settle on without competition. petition from the system of slavery.
It was more of an economic thing for them rather than a moral thing. And even though I just spent like 30 seconds explaining it to you, you have to realize that the proposal of the Wilmot Proviso was exceedingly contentious. In fact, some historians point to this amendment as the first round in the fight that ultimately led the United States to civil war. Now the second effect we need to talk about has to do with all the non-American people living in all that land. The vast majority of them just stayed.
put as the territory changed hands from Mexico to the United States, and in general you had Mexicans and Indians living there. Now the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo did specify that all Mexicans living in the territory would be granted US citizenship. However, the Indians living there, whom the Mexican government had made citizens, were given no such offer by the United States. In fact, the Indians living in that territory wouldn't have a chance at citizenship until the 1930s, but I get ahead of myself.
It's enough to know that both groups faced an assault on their civil rights, including voter discrimination and educational segregation. Alright, that's what you need to know about Unit 5, Topic 3 of the AP US History curriculum. The Heimler Proviso says that you should get an A in your class and a 5 on your exam in Maine. If that's something you want help with, then grab my view packet right here.
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